By Evelyn Usman
Thirteen suspected traffic thieves who specialize in attacking motorists caught in traffic in different parts of Lagos were arrested yesterday by agents of the Rapid Response Brigade, RRS.
Some of them were arrested in their hiding places around the highways, Old Toll Gate and Olusosun Dumpsite, in the Ojota area of the state, while smoking Indian hemp, in preparation for an operation.
The RRS commander, CSP Yinka Egbeyemi, revealed the arrest while reporting to the Police Commissioner, CP Hakeem Odumosu, during a meeting with police attached to the Squad and other operational units, organized by Odumosu.
Egbeyemi claimed that some victims who were stripped of valuables and residents of the areas identified the suspects as terrorizing motorists along the route.
The suspects were: Akeredola Taiwo, 33; Oriyomi Solola, 28; Olanrewaju Sikiru, 25; Hakeem Ridwan, 22; Joseph Ovie, 33; Muhammadu Aminu, 32 years old; Monday Nweke, 25; Emmanuel Anthony, 24; Onyeka Muoghara, 40; Salaudeen Rilwan, m, 32; Kayode Dele, 31; Silas Manner, 27 and Favor Elijah, 26.
The command chief who had deployed RRS men and other operational units to strategic locations throughout the state to checkmate traffic robberies, said the war against him was total.
He stressed the need to adopt various anti-crime strategies to combat the threat, but was quick to add that such strategies should not jeopardize the state’s safety net.
Therefore, he ordered that the suspects be transferred to the State Intelligence and Criminal Investigation Department, SCIID, Yaba for an adequate investigation and prosecution, assuring the inhabitants of Lagos of the tireless efforts of the command to eradicate traffic robberies and provide the adequate security for everyone in the State.
